Use These 10 Rules for Great Family Meetings

When communicating with your child breaks down, opening  lines of communication is often best be achieved by holding a family meeting. The family meetings allow all members of the family to talk about their feelings, problems, and concerns. It should be viewed as a safe forum for dialogue where truth is the goal through a release of honest feelings. It should not, however, be a time to yell or attack another person's vulnerabilities.

Ten Effective Ground Rules
For a family meeting to be productive, you need some ground rules.

Here are 10 that I hope you will find useful:
1. Let each person talk for at least three minutes. Try to keep the meetings, no less than fifteen minutes and no more than one hour.
2. Do not judge what the family any members says.
3. Have regularly scheduled meetings. Try to meet at least once a week.
4. Do not interrupt the person talking.
5. Try not to become defensive.
6. Don't criticize how feelings are expressed. Three negative remarks stop the meeting.
7. Really listen and follow the communication guidelines.
8. Ask if the other person would like feedback and perhaps help in problem solving.
9. Shut off the cell phones, don't answer the land lines, and don’t have visitors during the meeting.
10. One person should be facilitated to guide the meeting, track time, and mediate any angry comments.

Emphasize Happy Events
Alternate so that your child has a chance to be in charge.Remember that positive issues can also be discussed at these meetings. Use it as a time to talk about happy events where everyone can take part in giving encouragement and positive feedback. Consider occasionally presenting a “say something nice roundtable”. Each member would say something he likes about the other person, such as “I liked the way you took care of the back yard. You did a good job.” Or, I like the way you took the extra time to study after you finished your home work.”

All these skills work to promote a good about feeling about your family and home. These tools build secure and strong ties within your family.


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